It may or may not come as a surprise to you that I enjoy a good cry – hint: it shouldn’t – and the other day I was thinking of all the things that cause me to instantly blub all over myself. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a good list?

1. Gospel Choir + Key Change
The ultimate. The gospel choir key change – so well mastered by The X Factor and similar – affects something deep within me, and even if I’m not particularly enjoying the song. See below Jaymene Douglas’ mediocre Imagine cover. It’s all a bit meh until [2:44] when the 1 2 punch of the gospel choir key change kicks in and my tear ducts are obliterated.

2. Christine Sinclair at the Olympics closing ceremony
I cannot understate how much I cried watching the London Olympics closing ceremony. I literally could not hold it together any time Christine Sinclair was on screen. Needless to say I adore Christine Sinclair but this was borderline absurd. When it first started my friends Jo-Ann and Trevor gently mocked my ease with the tears but by the end I think they seriously started to worry for my mental stability.

3. Weddings
There was a point in my life when I assumed – for some reason!? – that I would not be a wedding crier. Friends guffawed at the idea and I was ultimately proven wrong. At every wedding I’ve ever attended.

4. Actresses Playing Mothers Trying Not to Cry or Generally “Holding it Together”
Now this may seem rather specific but it happens more than you might think. The first example I can think of is Emma Thompson tidied the bedsheets as Joni Mitchell croons in the background in Love, Actually. See also the last Harry Potter movie, Muriel’s Wedding etc.

I’m worried this list could literally go on forever but I will leave you with one thing that always gets my tear ducts flowing and that is the reprise of the ladies baseball song at the end of A League Of Their Own. Interesting sidenote: Youtube completed my search “A League Of Their Own song at the end.” Amazing. Not only is this moment singularly amazing it almost makes me want to fall out with someone only so that we can have the chance at a reconciliation via musical accompaniment many years later.